David Reynolds accepts Finals wingman role
Reynolds' teammate Anton De Pasquale one of seven Semi Finalists
Sandown De Pasquale's strongest round of 2025
David Reynolds has accepted that he will be playing rear gunner to title hopeful Anton De Pasquale at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500, despite surging back into form himself on the Gold Coast.
Reynolds turned in a vintage performance in the Surfers Paradise opener, finishing second to Chaz Mostert in wet conditions, and stating his desires to continue on full-time in 2027.
However, Team 18's attention turns to De Pasquale for the final two rounds of the season, with the Chevrolet spearhead General Motors' only shot at winning the title.
De Pasquale barely made it through the Gold Coast, getting caught up in an opening lap incident in the finale, before unscheduled late stops for Macauley Jones, Jarrod Hughes, and Cooper Murray handed De Pasquale three positions, and a reprieve.
Sandown was the strongest round for De Pasquale in his first season with Team 18 last year, with top three qualifying efforts and a runner-up finish in the second race, ironically coming weeks after his title hopes were extinguished.
Now, De Pasquale still has a chance, though needs to either win a race or turn around a 30-point deficit to the cut-line in order to progress to the bp Adelaide Grand Final. Should Reynolds be in the game, as he was at Surfers Paradise, the 2017 Bathurst winner has vowed to play rear-gunner.
"I generally love going to Sandown, it’s a very old-school vibe with such a rough track and being quite dangerous in some spots," Reynolds said.
"With regards to the main straight, the dragstrips, you really need a good car to get solid drive off those corners; the last corner and Turn 4.
"My position this weekend is obviously playing a bit of rear gunner for Anton, no different than any other team with a Finals contender is probably thinking. My role is just to help him fight the rest of the Top 7 and help him advance to the next round; race the guys he’s racing a little harder.
"Generally my results around Sandown have been pretty good… last year we were fast in practice but then the conditions changed on Saturday and we didn’t do too well.
"It’s going to be difficult in the sense of the Top Ten Shootout; the track itself is short and the weather is usually pretty cold, so that makes it take ages to get the car up to the right temperature window for tyres and fuel and the like. But that’s going to be the same for everyone, so we just have to execute."
However, not all have explicitly stated that they will act as rear gunner in Sandown, with Ryan Wood vowing he's hunting for race wins.
On-track action at Sandown begins on Friday.
